The Paris Experiment

Jack Wright imports experimental/improv artists — from France?!

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Jun 5, 2007

UNHEARD OF: Vocalist Agn�s Palier (above, blurry) is one of the artists in Paris' burgeoning improv scene who caught Jack Wright's ear. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

An e-mail arrived in my inbox about a month back with the surprising subject line: "The French are coming." Surprising because the e-mail came from master Philly improviser Jack Wright, which implied an invasion of Gallic experimentalists was imminent � but who even suspected that France had such an army?

"In the '80s, it was impossible to find players in France who were doing improvised music," admits Wright. "There was a certain amount of free jazz, but I went to Paris and after one visit decided that I should be concentrating on Berlin and London instead."

That perception began to change for Wright in the early '00s, after a U.S. tour by French percussionist Le Quan Ninh and some encouragement from English violinist/laptop musician Phil Durrant that there was a burgeoning Paris scene worth checking out. After a few tours in France, the saxophonist is reciprocating by bringing vocalist Agnès Palier and Olivier Toulemonde, who plays amplified objects, tight threads and springs, to the U.S. Further trans-Atlantic swaps are promised for the coming months.

Wright finds a similarity in the explosion of young, enthusiastic improvisers in France, playing anywhere they can, from established venues to house shows, similar to what's happening now in Philadelphia, with one important exception � the makeup of the audience. "The audiences that I experienced there were pretty much mixed, with children and older people. It wasn't a 'scene' audience like we have in Philadelphia. There was always a lot of curiosity because this music was completely new for these people."

It's that very perception of novelty, Wright says, that may help explain the recent resurgence of improvised music in centers where it previously struggled to exist, whereas some of the more traditional centers in Europe � Germany, Sweden, etc., where interest in free jazz was once very strong � are seeing audiences dwindle.

"I played in Stockholm and I felt like it was the old guard of the avant-garde. France didn't really reach that level of sophistication in the '70s and '80s, in terms of improvised music. Anywhere that hasn't gotten used to this music can discover it for the first time, even though it's been around for 30 or 40 years."

French writer and music critic Noël Tachet explains that the increase in improvised music has happened because "jazz, which not long ago was somewhat elitist, has been democratized. We're aware of it very little or not at all, but it no longer intimidates. In France as elsewhere one listens to Diana Krall; jazz has regained the status of popular music. That doesn't mean that everyone listens to it but that it's no longer perceived as a priori inaccessible. Improvisation arrives in this situation like a new jazz, something that one perceives as an intriguing art form. One finds in it the pleasure of being among the 'happy few,' of getting to know something together."

For Wright, that change arises not just from what he sees as "a general rise in the interest in art and creative life," but from the sense that certain prejudices that previously divided audiences are breaking down. "A lot of people come to improvised music through noise music," he explains. "Some of these genre distinctions that existed in the days when jazz musicians wouldn't play with anything electronic and jazz audiences would feel there was that barrier � like the one between folk and rock that Dylan broke � just don't have the same function that they used to. There's a kind of confusion, and in that confusion there can be a lot of interest developed."

Many of the countries that did garner a reputation for free jazz or improvised music scenes did so thanks to government funding structures which allowed musicians to travel more extensively outside their own countries � which in turn created the perception that these better-publicized musicians were more important or worth investigating. France, while never really promoting such travel, has a strong tradition of cultural life within the country, a tradition threatened by recent political changes, according to Toulemonde.

"In France," Toulemonde says, "we have a tradition in which the government subsidizes art, especially classical and contemporary art. The new government aims to continue subsidizing classical art, but wants to decrease strongly contemporary art support. It's a very reactionary vision. I think we're at a turning point, like Thatcher was for the U.K. some years ago. I'm not sure the improvisation scene in France will decrease, in terms of number and quality of musicians, but one thing is sure: It will be more and more difficult for everyone to live. My music doesn't evolve with political changes, but my situation is more tense. The new government [N. Sarkozy's team] is absolutely not a good thing for us."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Palier, Toulemonde, Wright Trio play Wed., June 13, 8 p.m., $5-$10, with Helena Espvall and Wiseblood, Physick House, 321 S. 4th St., www.bowerbird.org.

 

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